Paula Graves - Secret Keeper

Jesse had been across the room on the phone. He returned, his expression grim. “They’re not A.F.O.S.I. Mason Hunter just checked with a friend of his who’s been working this case for the Air Force.” Hunter was a fellow Cooper Security operative who had once been an Air Force major. “Nobody there has heard anything about finding Annie Harlowe.”

Wade grimaced. “Until now.”

Jesse shook his head. “Mason was discreet. Treated it like a routine touching-base thing.”

“So like I said,” Megan said, “we need a distraction.”

“I can get security to take them off for questioning,” Aaron suggested.

“They’ll flash badges and tell security to stand down,” Jesse disagreed.

“Or say to hell with the charade and start shooting,” Wade countered.

“If they’re not A.F.O.S.I., who are they?” Megan asked.

“Do you really have to ask?” Aaron growled.

“S.S.U.” Wade grimaced.

“We have to assume it’s them,” Jesse agreed.

Wade wished he could believe otherwise, but bitter experience told him there were few other possibilities. The collapse of MacLear Security, once one of the top private security contractors in the world, should have been the end of the company’s Special Services Unit—the S.S.U. It had been the illegal actions of that secret army of ruthless, corrupt mercenaries that had brought down the once well-respected, legitimate security company.

But some of the S.S.U. had avoided indictments and joined forces as a band of guns for hire. Cooper Security had come across the S.S.U. several times in recent months, each encounter more alarming than the last. Left to their own devices, without the need to maintain an air of legitimacy, the S.S.U. agents had become bolder and more ruthless than ever.

“We’re certain the S.S.U. was involved in the abduction of the Harlowes, aren’t we?” Megan asked.

“As sure as we can be without hard evidence,” Jesse agreed.

“They were trained by former feds at MacLear,” Megan said, “so they certainly would know how to pass themselves off as federal agents.”

Meanwhile, Wade thought, the clock was ticking. He had to get Annie Harlowe out of that hospital room without those two men in suits catching him. But what would coax them away from the door?

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the last number, Annie’s hospital room. She answered on the second ring, her voice cautious.

“Braddock and Hartman are standing right outside your room,” Wade told her. “We need them to go somewhere else for a while. Here’s what I want you to do.” He outlined a plan he hoped would work.

She was silent a moment, then said, “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Wade hung up the phone and turned to his sister, who gazed up at him with a grin. “I’ll go find some scrubs,” she said.

* * *

T HE MINUTE SHE ’ D HUNG UP the phone with Wade Cooper, Annie began to second-guess herself. What made her think the stranger who’d found her in the woods was any less dangerous than the two men who’d just left her hospital room? He had secretive eyes, and unlike the man who’d just flashed his badge at her, Wade hadn’t shown her anything but a slightly rumpled business card. Anyone could print up business cards.

She looked down at the card: Cooper Security. The name sounded familiar. Something to do with a recently indicted former State Department official named Barton Reid. Someone at Cooper Security had been involved with gathering evidence against him, right?

She pressed her fingertips against her forehead, wishing her head would stop hurting. Her pulse pounded like a jackhammer in her ears. She couldn’t imagine all this stress could be good for her concussed condition.

One thing at a time, Annie. First order of business—get dressed. Over the phone Wade had told her he’d brought her a change of clothes, borrowed from his sister, for when she was released. She needed to put them on now so they could leave the hospital without anyone asking questions.

She had to remove the IV in the back of her hand in order to move at all. With a wince at the biting pain, she removed the cannula and pressed her fingertip against the open vein to stanch the bleeding. Though a little dizzy, she managed to keep her balance long enough to reach the small in-room closet and pull out the bag Wade had told her would be at the bottom.

Inside the bag, she found a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved thermal T-shirt. The loose-fitting clothes nearly swallowed her whole, though they were actually a size smaller than she normally wore. She must have lost weight sometime over the last three weeks.

Had her captors starved her? Was that the least of the things they’d done to her?

Don’t think about it. Just get dressed and get ready.

She’d just pushed her feet into the slip-on sneakers she’d found at the bottom of the bag when she heard voices outside her room. She scurried back to her bed, nearly stumbling on the way, and pulled the covers over her to hide her clothing.

A red-haired nurse in blue scrubs entered her room, carrying a bottle of juice. She gave Annie a quick smile and handed over the juice. “I’ll take your friends down to the clerk’s office so they can get our doctor to sign off on the transfer,” she said brightly. She had a broad rural drawl, intelligent gray eyes and a quirky smile. “I’m Megan Pike,” she told Annie in a lower voice. “Wade’s sister.”

Wade had told Annie that he was sending his sister in, but Annie couldn’t see much resemblance between this fair-skinned, freckled woman and her dark-haired brother with his olive skin and mysterious midnight eyes.

“What happens next?”

“My cousin Aaron is down the hall within sight. If the men don’t come with me willingly, he’ll confront them and, if necessary, take them into custody.” Megan smiled briefly. “He’s a deputy. And big as the side of a barn.”

“I’m not sure those men aren’t armed,” Annie warned.

“Neither are we, but Aaron and my brothers are all armed. I don’t think anyone wants a shootout in a hospital, including those guys outside.” Megan tried to sound confident, but she couldn’t quite sell it.

“Do you know who they are?”

“We think we do,” Megan admitted. “Wade will explain everything as soon as we get you to a safe place.”

“Which is where?”

“Wade’s place, for now.” Megan glanced over her shoulder. “I’ve got to get this show on the road. Just wait right here. If you hear trouble starting, get behind your bed and take cover.”

Annie’s chest tightened with alarm. “You think that could happen, don’t you?”

“I don’t know,” Megan admitted. She went outside. Annie heard more voices. One of the men raised his voice enough for her to hear him say, “Is that really necessary?”

“It is,” Megan said firmly. “It will only take a couple of minutes.”

Finally, footsteps moved away from her door. Annie eased herself into an upright position on the bed, her gaze glued to the door.

A minute later, the door swung open. Annie held her breath.

Wade Cooper’s cowboy silhouette filled the doorway. He was holding the handles of a wheelchair. “Time to hit the road,” he said softly, rolling the chair over to the bed.

“Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe those people are who they say they are and I’m just looking for dragons to fight—”

“They’re not.” He motioned for her to get into the chair.

“I don’t think I need a wheelchair.”

“It will look more natural, at least until we reach the tunnel.”

“The tunnel?”

“There’s a tunnel from the basement floor that leads out to the parking deck.” He held out his hand to help her into the chair.